The Easiest Makeover Ever
Kathi Chrisicos transformed a Needham family room (three times!!) by getting creative with accessories.
(Photographs by Greg Premru)
The Man Pad
Play Space
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Everyone craves a home makeover now and then. But tossing your old stuff and doing a total overhaul whenever the urge strikes isn't especially budget-conscious. Or earth-friendly. Materials, manufacturing, packaging, and shipping mean getting a new piece of furniture consumes way more energy than sprucing up what you've already got. And if you send stuff to the curb, it may end up in a landfill, an eco no-no.
Instead, alter a room to gratifying effect by switching accessories, accents, and artwork. You don't need a bland beige background to do it. Working with affordable accessories from New England Silks & Accessories (and a few Boston Design Center finds), Kathie Chrisicos revamped a Needham family room - one she recently designed for a couple with young children - three times in the course of one afternoon, showing just how easy it is to give a room a face lift. Chrisicos originally designed the room to be durable enough for children yet attractive enough to feel like an adult haven. With each conversion, she kept the room's multihued rug, sage-green and charcoal walls, dark leather ottomans, textured couches, and a colorful mod painting.
GET THE LOOK: PLAY SPACE
To create an especially child-friendly TV room sophisticated enough for adult company, try adding a mix of retro games, toys, and unbreakable accessories. Emphasize the colors already in the room with a few cheerful stuffed animals, bright red trucks on the bookshelves, and small pieces of whimsical art. (Chrisicos liked this painting of a Scotty dog and another of a three-dimensional circus image, positioned on opposite sides of the fireplace). Oversize jacks and a polished tick-tack-toe board appeal to inhabitants of all ages.
Most People Don't Realize that parents and kids can live happily ever after in a common family area. Just keep both ages in mind when decorating. "A room meant for kids should feel accessible and welcoming," Chrisicos says. "Toys and children's books should be there - you don't need to hide them away - but they don't have to overrun the room."
Final Thought Include a few vases with strictly grown-up appeal "for style," she says, but make sure they're too heavy to knock over easily.
GET THE LOOK: THE MAN PAD
To make the room feel more masculine, try choosing decor with deeper tones, like the camel-colored throw or rust-colored pillow that Chrisicos used. Chrisicos also added graphic black-and-white prints to the bookshelves, a substantial black lamp, and an antique- looking clock. She substituted a set of chairs from Ailanthus at the Boston Design Center, upholstered in deep blue fabric by Robert Allen, for the salmon-colored chairs that usually occupy the room.
Most People Don't Realize that to change the look of a room dramatically, you only need to trade one or two substantial pieces with items from other rooms in your home. "Then you can alter the environment in two rooms," Chrisicos says. "Not everything needs to match; have fun and be flexible."
Final Thought Accent walls are an easy way to change a room, because they give you another color to build your accessories around. For example, the striking dark additions to the room play up the dark charcoal paint color on the fireplace wall, while the sage-green walls - more noticeable in the beachy vignette - feel muted.
GET THE LOOK: BEACHY KEEN
When changing a room, Chrisicos likes choosing a theme "that reflects something that makes you happy." Inspired by a seaside summer home, yet practical enough for year-round suburban living, this look incorporates elements of the outdoors, but it's not a room built around sandy neutrals or bead-board paneling.
Most People Don't Realize that you can have a beachy room without wicker and lots of white furnishings. Keep your room's sophisticated look, but rely on small touches, like the addition of beach-grasslike plants and objects evocative of the shore: silver starfish, stone candleholders, playful snails, and a bowl of copper seashells. Emphasize a room's existing color palette, in this case browns, greens, and charcoals, by choosing a few accents of the same color. In this version, there's a pale blue urn, a coordinating pale blue twisted-handle bowl to hold the copper shells, a baby blue throw, and white etched vases (not shown).
Final Thought "In this setting, the deeper colors in the rug have a grounding effect, while the medium blue works with a summer look," Chrisicos says.
Christie Matheson is the author of Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style. Send comments to designing@globe.com.
Design
KATHIE CHRISICOS
Chrisicos
617-699-9462, chrisicos.com
Accessories
NEW ENGLAND SILKS & ACCESSORIES
14 Charles Street, Needham, 781-449-7820, newenglandsilks.com
